Data theft, internet memes, advertising, terrorism, indigenous sovereignty, drone warfare, opium addiction, syphilis, the moon landing, mining, oil slicks, climate change, giant octopuses nothing is spared in this collection Nic Low s stories go beyond satire, aiming for the dark heart of our collective obsession with technology, power and image Set variously in London,Data theft, internet memes, advertising, terrorism, indigenous sovereignty, drone warfare, opium addiction, syphilis, the moon landing, mining, oil slicks, climate change, giant octopuses nothing is spared in this collection Nic Low s stories go beyond satire, aiming for the dark heart of our collective obsession with technology, power and image Set variously in London, an Indian village, remote Mongolia, the West Australian outback and mountainous New Zealand, these are prescient visions of the future and outlandish reimaginings of the past Arms Race is an arresting debut from a fierce, playful new voice in Australian writing Nic Low is an author and artist of Ngai Tahu and European descent Born in Christchurch, he now divides his time between Melbourne and a bush retreat near Castlemaine Nic s fiction, essays and criticism have appeared in the Big Issue, Monthly, Griffith REVIEW, Lifted Brow, Art Monthly and Australian Book Review, and until recently he ran Asialink s international writing program His second book, a literary exploration of New Zealand s Southern Alps, will be published by Text in 2016.

One thought on “Arms Race: And Other Stories”

This is a fun bunch of fiction from a refined Melbourne gentleman (well he's been seen around these parts). The writing is fresh, individual and unfashionably speculative. There's a feeling of whimsy and an almost fairy-tale quality to some of the stories. They explore some fertile ideas and territories. It's quite dense and I get the impression that each story has been reworked many times.My favourite stories are "Rush" and "Data Furnace". In Rush Aboriginal activists start a mining company. Th [...]